All my friends have one ….. (lighthearted)

[MistressoftheDarkSide]

Inspired by another thread, and being laid up on day 10 of a chesty virus which has put me on my arse, but feeling marginally better so…..

I’m in my 50s so completely out of the parenting / teen trend loop, but the thread about North Face coats took me right back to when I was about 14 and my Holy Grail was a pair of flat black patent ballet pumps with a bow…..

Oh how I begged and pleaded. My DM (rest her soul) was a stickler for rules and sensible footwear, and when we couldn’t get the right sort of sensible shoes one term she even took me to an “old lady” shoe shop for the most hideous pair of clunky T bar shoes I had ever seen…. Obviously very character building….. 🤣🙄

I remember my Step Dad came to pick me up from school when I was pursuing the patent pumps, and he gleefully reported he hadn’t seen anyone else wearing them so I was denied again…..

If memory serves my Nana saved the day in the end, causing minor friction, but I wore those shoes until they fell apart…..

So, back in the day, what was the thing that you absolutely had to have to win street cred among your peers?

Naf naf coat, LA Gear trainers 😱

A Benetton Bag or a Fruit of The Loom jumper.

the really cool kids used a River Island shopping bag. Bay Trading, at a push. I used a Gap one.

three-tiered frilly ra-ra skirt and a boob tube which slid down all day exposing my pre-pubescent flat chest.
ooooh, and transparent plastic gladiator sandals with sparkly rainbow laces

That bag is a blast from the past!

OMG! I remember those carrier bags!! Aww! How nice of your Nannan to save the day with those pumps OP!

A pair of shoes from Freeman Hardy Willis ,, my mum bought me a cheaper imitation pair from Curtess.!

Kickers and the bag they came in.
If you had several tags on your little boots you were cool

Puff ball skirt and reversible Disney jumper. All my friends had both and my mum absolutely refused to let me have either.

Getting a lift to school in the local rich family’s new Land Rover Discovery (just after they first came out, so this would have been about 1990).

If you were seen getting dropped off in Mrs X’s car, you had extra social points for at least two days.

A Berghaus coat 😬 they were fucking awful and bloody freezing but shit, everyone wanted one! My mum ended up buying me one and to be fair to me I did wear it a LOT!!

For school: Jane Norman carrier bag for PE kit, chunky platforms with black ski pants (and the elastic foot strap went over the heel of the shoe not the heel of your foot), Forever Friends or Winnie The Pooh pencil tin, and a Trespass jacket but it had to be the green-blue one, 02 body spray (Impulse) or CKone.

Outside of school: checked mini-skirt or trousers, white fitted shirt, super cropped jumper over the top, chunky platforms again.

The shoes with the strap the swivelled, so they became slip-ons. I desperately wanted those.

Kickers, the tag was everything!

Does anyone remember Wallabies/Wallabys? They were the precursor to Kickers and were a similar style but suede and really brightly coloured.

Doc Martins.

They were expensive and never thought I'd get a pair but I asked nicely and - hurrah! - I was allowed a pair.

Oh happy day.

Mine was a shoes one too.

I am slightly older than you (60) and the fashion one year was for moccasins. Everyone (well all the girls at least) had moccasins. However as I had a perfectly serviceable pair of school shoes that still fit and had loads of wear left in them my Mum wouldn't dream of replacing them. I remember my shoes being jeered at by girls even younger than me.

Finally at the start of the next term my Mum conceded that I needed new shoes and I pleaded for moccasins. They were quite reasonably priced (probably because they were on the way out by then) so Mum agreed.

Well the next term it felt like I was the only person in moccasins. Only thing worse than not having the on trend gear is having it just as stops being on trend. Now I still got jeered at for my footwear!

Kickers! I desperately wanted them, tried them on and they were too wide and kept slipping off but I really really wanted them!!

so mum relented and bought them but I think she secretly eye rolled every time she caught them flopping off my feet!

A Levi denim jacket
Grolsch bottle tops on my shoes (Bros)
A Benetton duffle bag

These are great 😊

Just remembered at about 17 I was desperate for a little black dress which was a no no from DMs perspective….. then Just 17 put a pattern for one in an issue…. It was dead simple - just needed two lengths of black fabric sewn into a tube - stretchy fabric - and then ruching front and back.

Nana helped me get the slightly shiny stretchy fabric and we’d already done sewing together so Cinderella did go to the ball …. 🤣

My Nana was great 😊

Oooh ...skin tight jeans (a rebellion against flares), donkey jackets, bat wing jumpers, ankle boots ..not sure I got any of them. I did save for an army surplus school bag that was popular and also had the shoes with no socks that led to bleeding heels (I think I ended up walking home bare foot in the rain once the pain was so bad) ...

OMG donkey jackets! I had one of those. You must be a similar age to me? I'm 53.

Perhaps you also had (or craved) suede pixie boots and ankle warmers? 😀

@5foot5

Ah I feel for you - so near and yet so far…..

I was never one of the cool kids …. I tried but economics were always against me - did become quite resourceful though.

Does anyone remember the trend for spiral perms and the DIY setting kits - was it Papilloten? I had really long hair and bought one of those kits with my holiday job money.

Spent hours spraying and twisting up my hair to sleep in it looking like Medusa for first day back at school ….. took it all out in the morning, combed my fingers through it and hello Crystal Tips 🤣

Brushed it through a bit but didn’t have time to wash it out ….. got to school trying to style it out and got told I looked like Pete Burns….. Still not sure if that was a win…… 🤣

52! My mum was a bit Hycinth Bucket about the donkey jackets and said I'd look like a bin man :( I have just realised that I have a pair of Rocket Dog boots that look a bit 80s 😂 - what do they say ?? "If you remember them from the first time you are too old to wear them"

I’m 53 - oh my - leg warmers!!

I remember snagging a couple of twin set style jumpers - one in peach and one in pale pink and then wearing them with black ski pants and matching leg warmers…..

I never got suede pixie boots though…..

I desperately, desperately wanted a Harrington jacket. Absolutely everyone had one, but they had to be black with a tartan lining. My mum bought me a red one - the horror!! Absolutely would not let me have a black one. 'Common', apparently.